And just like your Playboy subscription, your period, a full moon, your dose of Boniva®, or the 22nd, here’s your monthly installment in my blog!

Let’s Get Off On The Right Foot…Forget the Left One

Sledding Stuff

We went sledding awhile back.I had two inner tubes and 3 discs.The inner tubes ride nice and smooth, although they spray powder everywhere.You can go off jumps without fearing death or a concussion.But I think the discs, especially the orange one (pictured with Chris getting air), go faster and are better for doing tricks with.Anyways, here are some pictures of the sledding trip:

This has been a pretty cold winter, what with ice forming on the windows and inside my apartment and nights below 0 for weeks on end.It would stay in single digits during the day and then the wind would blow.Real nice.And my heater sucks.It just blows room temperature air around, so here are the two alternative methods of heating I used this winter:

It is warmer now, thankfully, but here are some pictures of the cold and the problems it caused:

We had frozen pipes, so the maintenance folk had to cut out a section of our wall to access the pipes to blowtorch them.And they ripped out a ton of insulation from underneath the apartment too.Also, I threw in a random picture of frozen soapy water at a gas station.

But my apartment is suffering from more problems yet.The pipes froze, my kitchen sink wouldn’t drain for a few days, my shower won’t drain, the cable goes out occasionally, the carpet is utterly filthy and gets your socks dirty (stains them black), the tap water is disgusting, you run out hot water during showers, I have a ghetto-fied heater (they used pliers to twist one of the prongs on the plug to fit the socket), I have a defunct door where ice piles up on the INSIDE, the peep hole has a BB hole in it, the bathroom ceiling paint is flaking off, the front door lacks a doorstopper, and an outlet or two have burn marks.Enjoy the pictures of the ghetto-ness.

So here's my verdict on this winter:

Another Ghetto

When I was home last time (Christmas break), I played golf at Shandin Hills in San Bernardino with Kenny, my dad, and a few family friends.When we got done with the round, we took the carts out to my truck.Here are pictures of the cars on either side of my truck:

Someone smashed out their windows and took stuff that was on the seats.One guy left a DVD player on the passenger seat.What a moron.Practically asked for it to get stolen.He was complaining that the DVD player didn’t even work.Well, let’s think about this one.The crooks didn’t check its function right there in the parking lot.They didn’t ask for warranty information.You didn’t leave a note on it stating that it was not functioning.Your fault.The other guy lost an iPod.And it worked.

The lesson here?It’s not to hide valuables.It’s to leave California because it fucking sucks.You can’t have anything nice (whether it works or not) without someone stealing or wanting to steal it.Look at Alex’s sound systems, our history of stolen cars (5), my umbrella in high school (on my golf bag, some fucker took it from Coach’s room), and this.God.I cannot wait to leave California forever.

But a lesson for those bound to stay in California?Lock EVERYTHING.Hide stuff under your seat, in the glove compartment (no, it’s not a jockey-box), use a CLUB, and never leave money out in plain sight (including change).But maybe you should just leave.

Beyond The Beats And Rhymes

I watched a movie on hip-hop!But really, it was an analytical movie looking at the hypermasculinity and womanizing attitudes present in the hip-hop world.They showed the rap festival in Daytona and the harassment of women that occurs constantly there.Also, the movie showed how violence, feminizing other males, degrading women, and flinging bling are in every song. Anyways, they talked about a song by the “amazing” artist Nelly called Tip Drill.I don’t know if any of you have heard of this masterpiece of music, but I sure hadn’t.I was unfamiliar with the term “tip drill,” so I looked it up in the urban dictionary.And let’s just say that the definitions there pretty much disgusted me further on rap.

Tip drill:

1.A tip drill is another name for running a train on a girl.It comes from basketball where players line up at the free throw line and tip it off the backboard consecutively, one after another. Think of it in the sense of a group of men running a train on a woman. First man in line hits, next man follows until everyone has had a turn...

2.When a girl bends over and her man puts his penis in her ass crack without any penetration. This is usually done as foreplay before doggy style sex or as an act when the man and the woman do not want to engage in full intercourse. It is the ass equivalent of a titty fuck. The woman's ass cheeks are used to excite the penis, sometimes to ejaculation. Her ass is “polishing your tip.”

3.Also, a girl who has a nice ass. This is because a girl needs a nice ass in order for this act to be pleasurable.

The Reason Why Charlene Is So Fat

Click on the links below and you can hear my kitty’s voice.She is begging for food because she is a fat ass.Dumb cat, doesn’t she know that overeating can lead to kitty coronary heart disease?

I hate school.I don’t mind learning.I hate homework, studying, group projects, and tests.I mean, I have always hated group projects because who ends up doing most of the work?Me.But now I not only end up doing the work, but I have to deal with people whose egos are bigger than the Statue of Liberty (and mine).They have so much to say about the projects, and not a lot of effort to put into the project.Hmmm….They have a mismatch in ego and effort.

If you don’t put in any work, you don’t deserve to have any say in the final product, nor do you deserve any part of my grade.Fuck you.Plain and simple.

I am just burnt out on school right now.I have lost motivation and no longer have the urge to study and do well.C’s sound good.I still study and work hard, but I am just doing it by rote.I don’t have the drive I once did.May 2009 (when I graduate with my Pharm D) can’t come soon enough.

I just recently took two tests where I knew answers to maybe 30% of the questions.Shitty.

My Immune System:0, Colds:2

I’ve been sick twice in less than 3 months.Now, granted the last cold didn’t hold a candle to the other one I had, but still….2 colds in 3 months?That’s pretty pathetic.I used to only have 2 colds a year, but now I am on pace for 8.And I hadn’t gotten sick in over a year before these two colds.Nice….

True, I get sick more in winter and all, but damn.I just can’t believe how feeble my immune system has become.I sure hope this isn’t a sign of the times…I do have to deal with sick people every day in my career.You know, the whole pharmacy thing and all.

I have always wanted to own my own pharmacy and make it a pharmacy and OTC store only (no cheap toys and over-priced canned goods like in Longs or Walgreens).I would have more pharmacists and more techs than most places in order to make the speed of service faster and the quality higher.Pharmacists and techs are pretty much overworked everywhere, so I would I to provide some good incentives to steal them away from other stores.But now I have another idea, just a slight revision of my previous vision.

I want to run a generic only pharmacy.What that means is that I would not carry any brand name medication.I would not stock Viagra®, PeptoBismol®, or anything name brand.I won’t carry Prozac®, but I will carry fluoxetine (the generic).Why?Because I will be an insurance-free pharmacy.Bingo.I cannot stand dealing with insurance companies and their asinine policies, rules, and regulations.I mean, insurance is a great thing against catastrophic occurrences and they really foot the bill in those situations.But for the monthly refill of HCTZ (a diuretic that is cheaper without insurance), they are just a fucking hassle.There is no need to have to go through insurance on something like that.Now before you go crazy scratching your head and wondering how I will make money, hear this.There was a guy in New Orleans that made over a million bucks in his first year running a pharmacy in this exact manner.Unfortunately, the hurricanes wiped him out and he just quit the business with his millions.So there it is.

I admit that I would lose money by not carrying medications like Viagra® (where there is no generic equivalent to it), but I think the volume of business would outweigh those loses.People would just have to understand the kind of place I was running.And OTC sales of generic equivalents would still bring in a good haul.

And oh yeah, no Medicare Part D or Medical/Medicaid.Fuck those programs too.

In case you had any doubts as to the generics being the same as brand name, they have to pass very stringent FDA testing on being equivalent before they can be marketed.So no worries there.

Who wants in on it?

Pickin’ On Homeopaths

No, I’m not hating on gays right now.I am, however, taking a class that involves complementary and alternative medicine.While there are some good methods and herbs out there, some have absolutely no medical basis for being effective and some are just pure fucking quackery.Like homeopathy.

Homeopathy is an ancient practice in medicine, involving the belief of like treating like.So if broccoli gave you gas, you would take broccoli, grind it up, mix a tiny drop of it into water, dilute the broccoli water down to 1/1,000,000,000,000,000th of the strength, and then take that as a medicine.Homeopaths believe that even though there are no molecules of broccoli left in the water, the water is imprinted with the memory of the broccoli and it heals you.Seriously.I am not joking.This is the core of their beliefs. Anything with 1X or 2 X or 3X is a homeopathic "cure" and you should never buy it. 1X is a dilution, not a concentration.

First of all, homeopaths believe this blindly.There are no clinical trials supporting the practice and all the “evidence” that exists is merely testimonials.People claim it works, but they cannot prove it.It is just the placebo effect.You take something (even if it’s inactive), and you expect it to work for you.So you feel better.You have less gas, your headaches are more mild, your cold gets better, etc.But homeopathy has never beaten the placebo in controlled trials.So how can people believe it?

Second of all, some of their treatments are just downright fucking silly.A child is hyperactive, so instead of implementing a little discipline and being a good parent, the parents search out for a cure for their bad parenting that won’t point the finger at themselves.They turn to homeopathy.Do you know what the “cure” is for hyperactivity?Ground up tarantula, diluted 100 trillion times.I shit you not.How do homeopaths know tarantula diluted to 100trillionth the strength is the cure?Why not ground-up dandelion?Maybe ground-up anaconda anal sphincter?I mean, how can you assign effects to something that cannot possibly have an effect?

And that brings me to my final point.The dilutions are so huge that there are absolutely no molecules of the original substance left.And please, don’t tell me that the water has a memory because that’s just as ridiculous as saying that Michael Jackson is normal and that real men wear pink.

Well, Now That’s Over With…

Does anyone out there use any herbals, natural remedies, alternative medicine or anything like that?I’ll give you some examples to get the ball rolling.I use zinc gluconate lozenges when I get sick.They have actually been proven effective at decreasing the time spent with the common rhinovirus-caused cold.It has something to do with viral penetration into cells and the cell replication cycle.I don’t use vitamin A, C, or E when I get sick though, because despite all the hype, they have never been proven to work at helping getting rid of the common cold.Some other examples of herbals are St. John’s wort, saw palmetto, and gingko biloba.Alternative medicine would be like prayer, therapeutic touch, or acupuncture.

I am just curious to see what people use.Just leave your choices in the comments section.I promise that I won’t rip on you too much.And if you have any questions about how an herb or a drug works, just let me know.I’ll find it out for ya.

Arizona Bound

Katie and I have quite the spring break planned out.Here is a brief overview of it:

March 10, Saturday, 2007-start in Pocatello, Idaho-drive 583 miles (about 9 hours 44 mins) to Las Vegas, Nevada-have the night to cavort about Las Vegas, Nevada-stay in the ImperialPalace (I know it’s not that glamorous, but my dad has free nights thanks to his impulsive and profitable gambling excursions)

March 11, Sunday, 2007 -cavort about Las Vegas, Nevada -going to see Anberlin, Jonezetta, Meg & Dia, and Bayside in concert (only heard of Bayside and Anberlin, Anberlin is damn good) -stay in the ImperialPalace

March 15, Thursday, 2007 -cavort about Phoenix, Arizona -stay at Alex's place

March 16, Friday, 2007 -cavort about Phoenix, Arizona -stay at Alex's place

March 17, Saturday, 2007 -drive 974 mi (about 16 hours 43 mins)

Boredom Breeds License Plates

Chris (my ex-roomie) and I got bored in class one day, so we visited the Idaho DMV website and made up some plates.Now, all of these are possible plates.Some of our attempts got shot down due to being vulgar or unacceptable.For example, “I H8 U” is not acceptable, but “WE H8 U” is.Haha.Enjoy….and if you can’t figure some of them out, ask about them in the comments and I can enlighten you.Also, pay attention to the plates aren’t the normal Scenic Idaho plate.

Note: Blogger was being gay and would not let me post the picture. Leave a comment with your email if you would like to receive the picture. Goddamn Blogger. And trust me, there are some funny plates.

More Boredom

This is a terribly bloody, disturbing game.Fun too.Haha.Enjoy.Find all 15 ways to whack your boss and you’ll be relieved.

Katie and I have been together for over 3 years now.It doesn’t really seem that long to me, so I guess that is a good thing.I can’t imagine anyone else I’d rather be with and I can’t imagine caring more for anyone else.I love you.

“Lay Your Heart Next To Mine” by Steve Azar

It sure is good to see your smileAt the end of a long hard dayLife out there is easier to bearWhen you look at me this wayI can't count the timesYou dance through my mindWhile I'm tryin' to be who I amBut you got to believeI'm not really me'Til I'm back in your arms again'Cause it all comes clearWhen we're both right hereAnd you lay your heart next to mineI'll never get used to those short goodbyesAs I'm runnin' out the doorAnd I'll always hate walkin' awayWhile you're tryin' to kiss me once moreBut I've got to do what I've got to doAnd even when it don't go like I planI tell myself, if there's nothin' elseWhen every day comes to an endIt will be all rightWhen you hold me tightAnd you lay your heart next to mineEvery beatEvery breathThat I have you here with meIs worth all the rest, oh yesAnd every dreamIn my mindComes alive every night, every timeAnd the world stands stillThat's the way it feelsWhen you lay your heart next to mineCome and lay your heart next to mine

Current mood:reflectiveCurrent music:

PS- If you read this blog, you should feel obligated to leave a comment. Plus, I am curious to see who still reads it. Thanks.

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1:19 PM

Thursday, January 04, 2007

JANUARY BLOGI Promise, I'm Not GayThis is my newest mode of transportation around campus. Ha. I know it seems queer as a three dollar bill, but I like it. I've always had a scooter since I was little, but it's getting old and probably worth money as a collectible (a Honda Kick'n'go from 1970). So I had to give that one up. And I needed to fill the void. I checked around, and decided to go with a standard Razor. But there was a problem. And that was my fat ass. I weighed too much for the normal Razor! And by the way, I weigh 159 lbs. I may not look it, but I do.

I had to buy the special heavy duty Pro model. Bah. Ah well. The one above is the exact one I have. I can now get to class in about one minute flat. It used to take me a good four minutes. Ha. Now I can wake up later and still make it to class on time. And it makes my trips to the post office on campus faster and easier.

Squirrel VideosThis is it! This is the video that you've all been waiting for. Or maybe only Greg, Katie, and a few others. Or maybe they weren't even really waiting or caring. Maybe the rest of you had no idea about this video. Well, here it is anyway.

This was filmed in September of 2006, I think. As you can see, the grass is green and the trees have leaves. It is no longer like that in Pocatello (snow + freezing temperature = barren landscape). We had a free weekend and a pretty nice camcorder (or so we thought...), so we made some videos. And since September, it's just been hanging out on my laptop since then, in some unknown format. Thanks to Greg (and I mean BIG thanks to Greg), it's now in a format that Google video could handle. Panasonic (on their camcorders) records straight to DVD in a VRO format and no software that Greg had let us edit it in VRO. So through some "creative strategies," Greg figured out a way to transfer the video to a different format. But that took hours (espeically to get it in the right proportions). And then once it was in another format, the audio and video didn't match up. WTF? It was horrible, but after about 12 hours in total (at least), we aligned the video to match the audio (we think).

So here it is. The Squirrel Videos. I know it's long. 18 minutes and 31 seconds to be exact. It might be best to download it, and watch it in spurts. The bike lady and the ATM are my personal favorites. Oh, and all technical support and editing was done by Grego. And by the way, we killed a squirrel accidentally during our freshman year by feeding it peanuts (but it ate the shells and died from microtoxins in the shells). Remember that.

My cousin's fiancee, Jay, works as a tennis pro at a country club in Thousand Oaks. He got my uncle Kenny, a couple of family friends, and me on for free one day. Now, I don't particularly love country clubs, their members, or their attitudes, but this course is nice. It reminds me of Redlands Country Club, but in a good way. The greens are in beautiful shape (always), the rough is medium length (but not so long you can't hit/find your ball), and the fairways are just pure. However, the holes are short, narrow, and doglegged (not my favorite exactly). I played well, shooting in the high 70's (good for not playing seriously for 3 or 4 months).

But trouble came on the 3rd tee when I had to pee. I checked the card- there were no bathrooms for 3 more holes. *Sigh* I went to the nearest bushes to piss.

I had to stoop down to get into the bushes (they were about 10-12 feet high, but there was an opening for me to go into), but then they opened up once inside. I did my business, shook it twice, and zipped up. I turned around and stooped to exit the bushes. I thought I was clear of the bushes and so I lifted my head up. Mistake.

A decent sized branch scraped my face right on my upper lip and my left nostril. Oh, sonuvabitch, that hurt. My face went numb in that area and instantly was gushing blood. I soaked my towel in ice cold water, then held it up to my nose/lip, and seconds later it was covered in blood. God, something on that bush made it sting like a mother too.

Anyways, about 4 holes later, I quit bleeding. But my face looked like raw meat and was bright red. My soon-to-be (maybe, they've been engaged for about 3 or 4 years) cousin-in-law just laughed his ass off when he saw me and heard the story of me wrestling the giant South American anaconda in the bushes (as Kenny tells it). I felt special.

It took about 2 weeks, but it finally healed OK. I still have a red trail where the branch scraped me. But at least it doesn't look like a booger (it did for a few days- Greg and Graham can vouch for that).

I bought some Mederma today at a pharmacy. It's supposed to help fade scars away. So hopefully it works and I don't look like a freak because I just had to piss on a country club. Lesson learned: don't piss on country clubs.Good Thing I'm Not A USC Fan

About 5 minutes into the first quarter of the Rose Bowl, our cable took a shit. It got fuzzy, then just totally went out. I don't know if it was the wind or something else, but the cable didn't come back on until a few minutes to go in the game. Real nice job, Time Warner.

Our neighbors are HUGE USC fans. The dad graduated from pharmacy school there and I think the kid wants to go there. They were so pissed that the cable went out during that game. They ran up and down the street, trying to find a house with cable or a dish that worked. Haha.

I didn't really NEED to watch the game, but it's something I like doing. I like college football, since they're playing for different reasons than pros. I can't stand most pro football teams (cept the Chargers, go San Diego!). And I kinda wanted to see USC lose. Ha. Shucks. I bet if I had been able to watch the game, they would have lost.

Once Again, I Hate Manual Labor

How many of you have picked lemons before?If you have, then you know my pain. We have three lemon trees in our backyard. They always seem to produce lemons when I am home (convenient how that works out). Well, when I got home this time, lo and behold, the trees were sagging with weight from the lemons on them.

It took me three attempts to pick all the lemons off the trees. There were about 1,200 lemons in total. Jesus Christ. I trimmed the trees when I finished stripping lemons.

The worst part about the trees isn't the lemons or the number of lemons. It's the thorns. You wouldn't expect there to be thorns on the tree, but damn. They are about 1/4" to 1" long and sharp as needles. They scratch your arms and you can't even see them when you stick your hand in to grab lemons.

So, I shall reiterate something I have said countless times: I hate manual labor.

And in the same vein of manual labor, I waxed three cars while I was home. The truck, the Maxima, and the RAV4. My arms felt like Jello by the time I was done. We have an electric waxer, but that thing vibrates your arms and makes them itch like you have body lice. And the rubbing to take the wax off is just repititive...manual labor. Yup. You guessed it. I hate it.

The Annual Phone-athonWe have to call for beach campsite reservations for July on January 2nd. That's 6 months in advance. Sheez. Well, anyways, we usually have about 6 or 7 people calling non-stop from 8:00 AM PST on until we finish. We usually don't get through until about 10:00 AM and by then, all the beach front campsites are taken and we're stuck with the inland side.

This year, I got through on the Internet at 8:18 AM PST. Hell yeah. I got us a beach front site. I tried for another site for the rest of our family, but they ended up getting through minutes after me. It was amazing. So this year should be good: two beach front sites, decently close to stairwells and bathrooms. Whew.More Movies I've Watched RecentlyWhen I have nothing better to do, I just pop in a DVD. Here's a list from best to worst of what I have watched lately:V For Vendetta- one of my new favorite movies. Up there with the original Matrix.Munich- very good movie and pretty intense, if you can understand more than 50% of what they say.The Mothman Prophecies- actually damn good. Suspenseful and spooky.The Skeleton Key- kind of a Sixth Sense-ish type movie. Entertaining, but not wonderful.Flightplan- another airplane horror movie. Another rent, not buy.Underworld- interesting movie. Decent, not great.Red Eye- predictable, but entertaining. Definitely a rent, not a buy.Ultraviolet- I'm embarrassed to admit I watched it to the end. Terrible.Aeon Flux- same as Ultraviolet.Current mood: fineCurrent music:Comments are welcome.